The sound believer. A treatise of evangelical conversion. Discovering the work of Christ's spirit,…

THIS is the third Benefit, which in order of Nature follows our Reconciliation, whereby the Lord accounts us Sons, and gives us the Spirit and Privilege of Sons: For in order, we must be first beloved before we can be loved so as to be accounted Sons, 1 John 3.1, 2. For the Lord of unjust to account us just in our Justification is much; but for the Lord to account us hereby as Friends, this is more: But to account us Sons also, this is a higher Degree and a farther Privilege; and hence our Adoption follows our Faith, John 1.12. Gal. 3.26. ⟨p. 211⟩And if Adoption, then the Spirit of Adoption much less doth not precede Faith. By Christ's active Obedience (our Divines say) we have right unto Life; by Adoption we have a farther right; the one destroys not the other; for a Man may have right unto the same Thing upon sundry Grounds: We know there are two Sorts of Sons: 1. Some by Nature, born of our own Bodies, and thus we are not Sons of God, but Children of Wrath. 2. Some by Adoption, which are taken out of another Family, and accounted freely of us as our Sons; and thus Moses was for a Time the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter. And of this Son-ship by Adoption I now speak, the Lord taking us out of the Family of Hell to be his adopted Sons. Christ is God's Son by eternal Generation, Adam by Creation; all Believers are Sons by Adoption. Now Adoption is two-fold,